How New Bedford’s Loss of $15M DOE Grant Will Impact ‘Day-to-Day’

For all of the hootin' and hollerin' over the Trump Administration terminating federal grant money earmarked for New Bedford, you'd think the district was about to board up and shut down.

Visions of a one-room schoolhouse with a single teacher for 12,000 students kept me up at night.

The $15.6 million grant New Bedford was promised by the Biden Administration was not needed to pay teachers, buy math books, or chlorine for the high school pool. Not a nickel of it.

The "clawed back" grant money was for a series of projects that are not directly related to learning.

A statement from school department spokesman Arthur Motta says in part, "These initiatives include the addition of a new student health center, installation of heating and air conditioning systems, and a variety of facility upgrades designed to enhance the learning environment."

Other projects include a central kitchen for the school department meals program and modular classrooms at the Brooks School.

Motta's statement says, "This federal action has no impact on local budgets, staffing, or day-to-day operations." So there. You can exhale now.

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The U.S. Department of Education is "clawing back" some $2 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER, grants to school districts in 41 states. The money was to help local communities to deal with the impact of COVID-19.

U.S Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement when canceling the grants, "Extending deadlines for COVID-related grants, which are in fact taxpayer funds, years after the COVID pandemic ended is not consistent with the Department's priorities and thus not a worthwhile exercise of its discretion."

McMahon did tell grant recipients the Department of Education "will consider an extension to your liquidation period on an individual project-specific basis."